made the signal to separate, and left the Crescent and Castor easy prizes to the two Frenchmen. His conduct was not blamed and was not even called in question; but Laughton opines that "when we consider that the Floras broadside was nearly as heavy as those of the Friponne and Gloire together, it is impossible to avoid thinking that Williams did not understand the novel conditions in his favour". Later life In April 1782 Williams went on half-pay, and had no further service. In 1784 he inherited the family estate, Yew House at Hoddesdon, from Sir Booth Williams, a cousin. He retired to his estates at Remenham Manor near Henley-on-Thames and at Hoddesdon and in November 1821 he took the additional name of Freeman, as a condition of his inheriting the Fawley Court estate from Strickland Freeman, another relative. He rose through the ranks by his seniority, becoming rear-admiral on 12 April 1794, vice-admiral on 1 June 1795 and full admiral on 14 February 1799. On 28 June 1830, three days after the accession of William IV, he was promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, the king sending him, as a special compliment, a baton which had been presented to himself by George IV. He died at his home at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, on 11 February 1832. He was buried in the family vault at St Augustine's Church in Broxbourne. Family and issue Williams married Henrietta Willis on 20 June 1771. She died at Hoddesdon in 1819, having borne him two sons, one of them also named William Peere Williams-Freeman. Both predeceased their father, with William junior dying in 1830 and leaving issue. After Admiral Williams's death his grandson applied to know the king's pleasure as to the return of the baton. The king desired that it should be retained by the family as "a memorial of the late admiral's long services and the high professional rank he had attained, and in proof of the estimation in which his character was held by his sovereign and brother officers". References Sources 1742 births 1832 deaths Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy admirals of the fleet People from Peterborough People educated at Eton College British military personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War#